Home is where the heart is

By Chelsea Feinstein, cfeinstein@nashobapub.com

Posted:
05/06/2014 09:45:50 AM EDT

TOWNSEND -- Scott Gordon's 7-year-old granddaughter is getting the present of a lifetime this year.

While other girls are playing with cookie-cutter dollhouses bought from toy stores, Toriana Baldassari is getting a dollhouse built by her grandfather that is a perfect replica of the house he grew up in.

The house, built around 1900 in Milton, has been owned by his family for decades. Gordon's mother lived there for 85 years, and his brother now owns the home.

"When Toriana saw it, she was totally amazed, she couldn't believe it," Gordon said of the completed dollhouse. "My daughter Andrea (Baldassari) was amazed too because she knew it as a rough shell, without all the finish work."

Gordon, who works as a carpenter, constructed the base of the dollhouse when his own daughter was a child, more than 30 years ago.

"I thought it would be a neat idea to build a dollhouse for Andrea," he said. "I tend to take on projects that are a little overwhelming."

He never got around to adding more details until last fall, when he decided to finish the job so his granddaughter could play with it. He added details as small as curtain rods and a claw foot tub to complete the tiny version of his childhood home.

"It's not your typical dollhouse," Gordon said.

The tiny house features several rooms, a front porch and doors and windows that open and close.

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It also includes some basic furnishings, but Gordon said he'd leave it to his granddaughter to fill the rest out the way she wants to.

Gordon said he spent at least $500 completing the dollhouse, and worked full-time on it for about three weeks to add all of the details to the house's basic frame.

He said constructing the dollhouse brought back memories, including the 56 Christmases he'd spent in the life-size version of that living room, and the afternoons crawling through the attic with his siblings.

"I have some very fond memories. It's a beautiful house and I spent a lot of time there," Gordon said.

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